Goodbye, House

This photo was taken just before we pulled away from our house for the last time.  We were so tired from a month of sorting and selling our possessions, making moving arrangements, and cleaning. Everyone was running on fumes and the kids all had head colds, but I still wanted to get one photo before we left.  I'm so thankful that we got to live in this house for 2 1/2 years.  It was the best house that we've ever lived in.

So, why did we sell the house that we loved so much? Short version:  Several months ago, Jeff and I were talking about opportunities that kept popping up to help or encourage new believers that we knew and who lived far away.  We realized that if we were mobile--say, in an RV--then we would be able to travel easily to wherever we wanted to go.  As we talked about it, a lot of other benefits came up.  I've been calling them side effects.  A few of the side effects that first came up were:  more family time with less distractions, the encouragement that it would bring to our home fellowship to learn of what God is doing in other places, significantly less debt (no mortgage!), not getting caught up in the common cares of this life, a more outdoor/less sedentary lifestyle, and of course, travel. We knew it was an unconventional idea, but decided to pray and see if the Lord would open the door. So we prayed and talked to people in our fellowship and asked them to pray. We asked the Lord to send encouragement if He wanted us to do this thing, and He did, again and again. Jeff told me at the time that I should write it all down because he knew we wouldn't remember everything.  So we put the house on the market, praying for the Lord's will to be done.  A month later, the house sold, and a month after that we moved out.

Selling our stuff was much easier than I thought it would be. The Lord brought person after person to buy our possessions as well as people who had need of our things, and within several weeks of accepting the offer on the house, we left town with some keepsakes and the items we would need for life in an RV (I'm assuming you agree that a kayak is a need for life in an RV.)  The U-haul we ordered was way too big for how much we ended up bringing with us!  It was less than half full, even with the kayak.  I expected the kids would want to keep everything, but they were easy-going about it.  I actually lobbied for them to keep some of the things that they wanted to get rid of!

We drove our few remaining possessions to my parents house in Bend, to wait for the close of escrow and begin looking in earnest for an RV.  The kids are convalescing in one room and Jeff and I are going over options in another. Right now, we think the best fit for our family is a truck and fifth wheel, and we think we'd like to keep it at around 35-36ft long.  Even though we think we have an idea of what would be best for us, we are totally okay with the Lord bringing something else that looks nothing like what we thought we were looking for.  His will be done.

The house is estimated to close at the end of next week, so we have a few days to rest and see what's available in the way of trucks and RV's, as well as looking into RV parks in the area.  We are excited to see what the Lord will do in this new season of our lives!  I hope to update on the places we go and the people we meet.

*Updated to add:  The house did not end up closing last week.  Lender delays pushed it back a bit, and now we are supposed to close this week.

**1/18/2018
Edited to add:  We've been out of our house for about a year and a half, and were thinking about the house.  We decided to look it up on Zillow.  It was kind of sad, seeing the pictures, with all the stuff we used to have.  We loved this home, and we miss it.  We're still really happy that we get to do this, though!  You can't have it both ways, and we know that to be out here, living this life, we have to be okay with missing our house and the people who came and filled it with us.  It's just for a season!  :)  For the record, I do not miss the mortgage, repairs, or cleaning and maintaining the house and the property!  I love having so much freedom, in almost every sense of the word!  But here are the pictures from Zillow, just for us to look back later and remember the cute house we had in Brookings.